Respectfully James
by faraquinn
Summary: James tries to woo Lily with a little song in the Great Hall.  Maybe she wont think he's such a prat anymore.


She was sitting at the table, and he couldn't help but feel his heart skip beats just by watching her spread jam on her toast. Yes, it was ridiculous, and yes, thank you Sirius, he knew it was a lost cause. She wouldn't even give him the time of day! And worse was that anytime she did notice him, she could only point out what he was doing wrong. It hurt.

She caught him staring and turned away from him and he just sighted. The other Marauders turned to see what it was, and then just went back to eating. It could only catch their attention for so many years, and this being the sixth, they had learned better than to try and comfort him. They knew it was a lost cause too.

Granted, he had changed. Being made head boy got him a lot of extra time with her (because Dumbledore would have been truly nuts not to choose her as heads girl- right now he was just nutty) and it had to have helped her see that! He wasn't pranking (quite as much, he wasn't about to stop completely), he started paying better attention in class, and he had started leaving Snivilus (the whiny little bastard) alone. Now if only he could leave his damn hair alone! If he could just do that, maybe she would notice!

"Prongs, mate," Reamus said, "It's more than just the hair. Try not to think about it and eat your sausages before Padfoot takes them all off your plate."

"Hey!" he grabbed the one sausage left out of the four, and saw Sirius biting one off of his fork.

"Well, you weren't going to eat it" he sprayed James glasses. This being a typical occasion, James just took off his glasses and sighed, wiping them gently on the front of his robes.

"You think she would have noticed by now," as he looked through the polished lense, "I tend to think that I grew up a little by now."

"Right mate," Sirius stated, "but I don't think she's forgiven you for giving her that frog on Valentines day."

"That was back in second year!"

"Yeah but girls tend to remember things that you did wrong, " Reamus pointed out, "and you have a lot of years of things to remember by now."

"True." Peter confirmed, taking a sausage off of Reamus's plate. "It's not like you can serenade her and make her forget everything and suddenly love you."

"Wait, what?"

"I said-"

"No, no. I heard what you said." James eyes went wide, "that's a bloody brilliant idea! Merlin's beard, why didn't I ever think of it before!"

"Because it's a bad idea," Reamus deadpanned.

Sirius sighed, "I think this is going to involve all of us somehow. And just to let you know, Jamesie dear, I don't sing."

It took about two week of practicing (what Peter had called, rehearsing, but nobody else liked to say that, because of the gay undertones) before the boys felt secure enough to try it. And even though the rest of the boys hated it, they would do anything for their best mate.

So that, and matching muggle suits that James decided would catch Lily's attention, because he had heard her say, one time while he was listening (eavesdropping on her conversations, really)that she liked a man in a suit.

While most students at Hogwarts had prepared for a normal breakfast in the Great Hall, piling their plates with food and chatting to each other, the boys got ready to make their debut. The Marauders climbed up on the table in front of Lily and charmed on a song.

I tried to discover a little something to make me sweeter  
Oh baby refrain from breaking my heart

He leaned over to her and sang the first lyrics quietly, handing her a rose. She just stared at him, wide green eyes not really taking in what he was doing. He took it as a good sign and continued, hoping to get through before the shock wore off.

Im so in love with you  
Ill be forever blue  
That you give me no reason, you know you're making me work so hard  
That you give me no . . . soul  
I hear you calling  
Oh baby please give a little respect to me.

The boys turned on their heels, and moved back a little more to give James the full spotlight as he held a hand over his heart.

And if I should falter, would you open your arms out to me?  
We can make love not war, and live in peace with our hearts  
Im so in love with you, Ill be forever blue  
What religion or reason could drive a man to forsake his lover? 

And with another grand flourish of their hands, the boys began to sing with them. Sirius looked pained, but still got on quite nicely. That was, until Peter fell off the stage, but the performance went on. The look on Sirius's face gave the impression that he wanted to join Peter.

Dont you tell me no. . . soul.  
I hear you calling  
Oh baby please, give a little respect to me.

Lily was holding back a smile at this point. It was by far the loudest and brashest, and sweetest thing that James- or anyone had ever done for her. She kept her lips pursed, hoping he wouldn't catch on to how sweet she thought his gesture really was.

Im so in love with you  
Ill be forever blue  
That you give me no reason  
You know youre making me work so hard  
That you give me no. soul.

By this point the nervous Wormtail had jumped back up and was back in step. James grinned through the song catching Lily's small amount of amusement. IT felt great to see her smiling at him, for probably the first time ever.

I hear you calling.  
Oh baby, please give a little respect to me.  
Oh baby, please give a little respect to me.

They finished off with a bow. James eyed Lily and was pleased to see that not only her was her wand still away (which was another first when it came to him getting to close to her) but she was also still smiling. His heart was beating so loud he couldn't even hear the commotion from all the other tables. He couldn't even hear McGonagall calling out detentions to the four of them.

"Are you going to get down from the table now, James?"

Yes, yes he was. And the fact that she had used his first name sent his heart soaring. She moved over and patted the seat next to her.

"That is the last time I ever say something like that arounds Prongs again," Peter rumbled, clumsily climbing down the table and sitting back down roughly.

"Ah it wasn't that bad Wormtail," Reamus said. "I think it might actually have been fun."

The boys just turned to stare at him, except for James. He was still watching Lily as she smiled and finished spreading jam on her toast.


End file.
